Paper Dreams
Fall 2020
Short animated film exploring depression and isolation during the Covid pandemic. One of my more vulnerable works, this film challenged me to turn the camera on myself. For this project I was tasked with transforming myself into a stop-motion character, through a technique called pixilation, and focus in some way on the topic of masks and Covid. Struggling with depression at the time, I decided to explore mental health issues and feelings of isolation exacerbated by the pandemic.
The character I turned myself into for the duration of producing this film lives in a surreal alternate reality, viewing their world behind a veil of paper and distorted light. Although this paper character moves through and sees their world differently from us, I believe their affect and emotional struggles are at once recognizable and relatable. It becomes clear that this character is simply going through the motions, struggling to carry out the most basic of routine tasks. The ending invites the audience into the world of the film, forcing them to question what masks, physical and otherwise, they may don while navigating the world.
I produced this film for the class Principles of Animation. The frames were composed in Dragonframe and the final film edited in Adobe Premiere Pro. All sound effects were recorded by experimenting with paper. Music: “No.6 In My Dreams” by Esther Abrami.
The character I turned myself into for the duration of producing this film lives in a surreal alternate reality, viewing their world behind a veil of paper and distorted light. Although this paper character moves through and sees their world differently from us, I believe their affect and emotional struggles are at once recognizable and relatable. It becomes clear that this character is simply going through the motions, struggling to carry out the most basic of routine tasks. The ending invites the audience into the world of the film, forcing them to question what masks, physical and otherwise, they may don while navigating the world.
I produced this film for the class Principles of Animation. The frames were composed in Dragonframe and the final film edited in Adobe Premiere Pro. All sound effects were recorded by experimenting with paper. Music: “No.6 In My Dreams” by Esther Abrami.